Wizards earn crucial win over Magic

By Ian Quillen The Associated Press

Wednesday

Mar 13, 2019 at 9:44 PMMar 13, 2019 at 9:44 PM

WASHINGTON — Bradley Beal scored 23 points, Thomas Bryant had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and the Washington Wizards made up ground in the Eastern Conference playoff race with a 100-90 win over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night.

Jabari Parker added eight of his 19 points in the fourth quarter to help the 11th-place Wizards move within 1 1/2 games of ninth-place Orlando and Charlotte. Washington is 2-0 on its five-game homestand.

Bryant and Parker each went 9 of 12 from the field, with Bryant's performance coming one game after he was limited to two points and a single rebound in 14 minutes.

The Magic and Hornets both started Wednesday a game back of eighth-place Miami, which played later.

Nikola Vucevic had 20 points and 14 rebounds for Orlando, which has lost four of five. D.J. Augustin added 16 points for the Magic, who have dropped 20 of the last 24 games in the series.

After the Magic opened the second half on an 8-0 run to tie it at 61, neither team led by more than six until Parker scored the final six points of an 11-2 spurt to put Washington up 91-82.

A few possessions later, Beal's 3-pointer in transition stretched it to 94-84 with 3:48 left. The Wizards led by at least four the rest of the way, pushing it back to 10 on Bryant's dunk with 52 seconds to play.

Tip-ins

Magic: Vucevic had his 50th double-double before the end of the third quarter. . Jonathan Isaac and Aaron Gordon each finished with 13 points and nine rebounds. . Gordon played despite bruised ribs sustained in Sunday's loss at Memphis.